In most video games, you will find some sort of health and mana or stamina indications. Some games use a bar system (HP and MP bar) and some heart vessels or circles or some sort of system.

We don't have such indications in our physical life. Our physical and mental health is so complex that I don't think a simple bar indication can do it justice. However, having the visual or using the concept to externalize our physical and mental state can be helpful to understand where we are and what needs to be done to make sure we cope with our life circumstances. It wouldn't be a perfect indication, but at least it gives us something to work on.

How is your mana/hp bar today? What do you need to gain full health again?

Follow @gamer.counsellor and his blog where he talks about video games and how to use them in real life. Check out his blog on gamercounsellor.com and learn how you too can use ideas from video games to gamify your life!

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There are 6 different need gauges (bladder, fun, hunger, social, energy, hygiene) in The Sims video game and the goal is to make sure we meet the needs of each need gauge.

Similar to the HP and MP indications post, this is another way to visualize where you are at the present and what you need. The 6 gauges aren't making sense to you? Again, why not make up your own need gauges that work for you?

Check out @gamer.counsellor and his blog where he talks about video games and how to use them in real life. Check out his blog on gamercounsellor.com and learn how you too can use ideas from video games to gamify your life.

"I will do what I must to keep the balance" from the Star Wars - the Grey Jedi Code.

No, although this post is not about Star Wars, I like part of the grey Jedi code - which is to keep the balance. This is the continuation of previous posts on The Sims. There is this mood prism in the game mechanic that indicates the mood of your character. This prism is influenced by how well you meet your need gauges. It can go from green, yellow, orange to red. In real life, we can use the prism as an indicator of our general mood at the moment.

However, in life, as we know, it can be difficult, and sometimes impossible to keep all needs met. But we can try to balance the need gauges by meeting some of the needs and making sure some of the needs are not in their red zone. This way, our mood prisms will be able to maintain at yellow or green and minimize the negative effect on our quality of life.

Head over to @gamer.counsellor to read a good blog where he talks about video games and how to use them in real life. Check out his blog on gamercounsellor.com and learn how you too can use ideas from video games to gamify your life.

Hey Story Tellers! Let’s begin to Reframe and Re-enchant the way we think about mental health! Using geek culture we can all begin to incorporate the things we love into daily routines that can help promote our own mental health needs!

For instance! The way we learn new skills before leveling up in video games or facing boss battles is the same thing we need to do with our own mental health. Before taking on your personal Bowsers. Practice setting boundaries in safe circumstances, gather allies, incorporate #gratitude into your daily schedules, use compassion and try to challenge all or nothing thinking patterns.

Also next time you're playing a video game be mindful of how your character levels up, time and practice can make any boss battle a little less challenging.

If you interested in learning more about mental health, counseling, and geek/pop culture go check out the podcast Stories with Shrinks. Host Tyler and Jen take a new topic twice a month and psychoanalyze characters from your favorite movies, tv, and media. Enjoy!

Happy New year! Ah, yes, a new year; it is the time where everyone is excited about setting resolutions and goals to meet. We know how working towards these goals can be mundane and tiring, so in this post, we are going to look at reframing goals from a video game's perspective.

Most of the time you can find objectives or quest indications in most of the modern video games mechanics. Unlike in-game, our physical life doesn't have such cool mechanics to tell us what to do next. Hence our daily task or even long term goal can be daunting!

The same concept can be applied to physical life. When you feel like the tasks at hand are overwhelming and don't know how to tackle them, you could try breaking them down into smaller achievable mini-quests. This is not a new concept, but it is often overlooked because almost everyone always recommends you to break your goal down. But what if you look at it from a video game perspective that you are not just breaking down your goal, but you are going on an adventure to level up by gaining experience points every time you complete a smaller objective. It will be a little bit more exciting, isn't it? Kind of like role-playing.

Let's take personal projects, for example, it is my goal this year to be able to present a workshop on video games and mental health. This is huge and scary tbh. So, I reframed the goal as a quest in a video game. The big overarching quest is to present a workshop. And I broke down the big quests into smaller and more attainable quests such as Act 1: researching the content of the workshop. Act 2: organizing the content. Act 3: create PowerPoint slides, etc.

To break it down, even more, we can also decide what would be the main quest/ objective and secondary quest/ objective. For example in Act 1, I can decide to only have 5 main research articles that informed my workshop. This can be my main quest, and as for the secondary quest, I can read more than 20 articles. While it is not necessary to read more than 20 articles, it will definitely help me to achieve the main quest. Much like in most video games, you don't have to do the secondary quests, but by doing them, you could gain more experiences or better equipment that assist you in your main quest.

Hence, slowly but surely, I am embarking on an adventure of building my workshop, levelling up my knowledge on the topic of video games and mental health by gaining experience points when I read journal articles!

What is your primary quest(s) in 2022?

I am @gamer.counsellor and I have a blog where I talk about video games and how to use them in real life. Check out my blog on gamercounsellor.com and learn how you too can use ideas from video games to gamify your life.

Online worlds give players a deep sense of immersion as well as an opportunity to play as wide-ranging characters to practice thinking outside of the box to problem-solve in unique ways playing off of our strengths.

Final Fantasy XIV Online currently features 20 classes we can inhabit to begin understanding our play styles in the game that suit us best. As we become more aware of the mental processes involved in these play choices, we are also able to translate these approaches to achieve our most balanced essence across the important areas in our daily lives.

Black Mage is a Ranged-Magic class that focuses on dealing damage and weaving the perfect spells to topple foes in each skirmish. Magic can be anything that makes us unique and powers us towards the thing we need in life. The parallels are limited only by our imagination and belief in ourselves.

Here are some mental health tips inspired by those who have spent time mastering the Black Mage class.

• Know your potential and be patient as you work towards your goals

• Find the safe space where your mind can see everything clearly

• Be creative! There are so many ways to burn down the biggest challenges in life and reach that moment of success

• Extra tip: Whenever you can, enjoy your cool hat!

For more tips and insights like this one, you can follow Dr. Gameology and other social apps and subscribe to The Gaming Persona Podcast on the podcasting platform of your choice here.

For up-to-date research progress, you can also follow on ResearchGate.

Check @superpwrtoolkit or #reframeandreenchant for weekly (Sundays) posts on this series!!!

Need to take a breather but don't want to put the controller down? Why not both?

Box breathing is a mindfulness technique that can aid in stress management and overall wellness. When used in #musictherapy, you may find yourself controlling each breath along with the soothing orchestral soundtrack of Skyrim! Use the box in the picture to help you keep track of your 4 second inhale, hold, exhale, hold to help regulate your breathing. What other video game music would you use to relax?

Box Breathing: A mindfulness exercise in which you inhale for 4 seconds, hold it for 4 seconds, exhale for 4 seconds, hold it for 4 seconds and begin again. You can trace a square around to help track where you are.

Don't forget to save this #reframeandreenchant post as a reference for when you need a break! Find more music therapy and video game music talk with @SongsHealing!

Have you leveled up your mental health today?

“It is well known in Role Playing Game (RPG) such as Pokémon, to have a leveling up system. The logic behind it is that you train up your Pokémon by defeating other Pokémon trainers and earn experience points.

Pokémon with a higher level would normally defeat Pokémon with a lower level. Which makes sense. What should you do if your Pokémon's level is too low? Level up!

I have the chance to play Pokémon Legend: Arceus, and it is a fresh take on the franchise! Because of the fresh approach to the game, even though I am familiar with the Pokémon RPG games, there were some learning curves. Alpha Pokémon. The first time I encountered an alpha Rapidash with a level 25 water Pokémon, Dewott, I thought I could take it. I was wrong as the whole team was completely destroyed!

When the tasks or monsters we face are too powerful in life, it might mean that their level is too high. So look for tasks that are easier to defeat and gradually build up your skills and experience before tackling the higher level monsters or enemies!

I am @gamer.counsellor and I have a blog where I talk about video games and how to use them in real life. Check out my blog on my website and learn how you too can use ideas from video games to gamify your life!”